Lorelle VanFossen has written a helpful article on What Do You Put Into Your Family History Blog? She gives some good tips on the types of things that you can put into a family history blog, and why a blog is more flexible than a static website.

Written family records (e.g. family history records in a family Bible)

First hand oral reports of events by someone who witnessed them

Second or subsequent hand reports of events

Each piece of information in your family history should be documented as to its source. Later on when you have a lot of information you will want to know where a particular fact came from and how reliable it is. When I first started to collect information I did not document all the sources, and later on I founding myself wishing I knew he source of my facts.

Sometimes there will be conflicting information and you will need to decide which version is more likely to be correct. Sources higher on this list are generally more reliable than those lower down. Try to get copies of official documents whenever possible. But even second or third hand stories are better than nothing, as long as you realize that they may not be completely accurate.

I thought I would explain why I chose to use WordPress, which is designed for blogging, rather than a more traditional static web site for this site. What’s the difference? Here is an article by Lorelle VanFossen that explains it very well.

I wanted this site to be a “repository” where other family members could post things without needing to know anything about creating web pages. One of the things that I like about a blog is that it is always “under construction” by adding new articles. That makes it a lot easier to add family history information a little bit at a time as we come across it. If we wanted to set up a “complete” static web site it would probably never be done.

If you are part of my family and want to contribute to this site, please send me an email and I will set up an account for you. You don’t need any special software. You can simply log in using your web browser and create an article.

About Kumle (Norwegian potato dumplings)

When I was growing up I remember my grandmother making kumle around Christmas time. We grandkids would sit around the table grating raw potatoes and my grandmother would mix the dough and boil the kumle in a big pot of water. Sometimes we would compete to see who could grate the most potatoes. Then we enjoyed a delicious meal of potato dumplings covered with lots of butter sauce. Even better, the next morning we sliced the kumle and fried it in butter. It made the best breakfast!Read the rest of this entry »

We think that the couple in this picture are some of our relatives from Belgium. The photo came from the belongings of Maurice Van Puymbrouck when he passed away in November 2006. (Click on the photo for a larger image.)
Do you know who these people are?